KARACHI, April 10: Construction work at the sites of Sohrab Goth flyover and underpass projects has come to a halt, causing an increase in the miseries and worries of the people passing through the vital intersection as a routine.
Work on both the projects had been started simultaneously in May last year which had resulted in traffic chaos all around the sites most of the time, especially in the morning and evening rush hours.
Managing traffic at the sites of both the projects has virtually become a nightmare for traffic police as most of the roads around the project have been dug up and closed to traffic while those still open have got their width reduced to half due to the dumping of debris.
Two or three traffic constables deployed there to regulate the vehicular traffic find it immensely difficult to discharge their duties efficiently as they face complex problems, including defiance and violation of traffic rules by drivers of public transport, lack of space on roads, parking of inter-city buses and movement of heavy traffic.
To the surprise of many, traffic police personnel of SI or ASI ranks are often seen busy minting money from goods transport vehicles, trucks and public buses instead of paying attention to their duty of regulating traffic, which adds to the traffic mess.
Attitude of the drivers of big buses, minibuses and coaches, who would park the vehicles next to the intersection to wait for and lift passengers is one of the major causes of prolonged traffic jams.
According to Zaid Gul, driver of a minibus, traffic police extort money from each public transport vehicle passing through the intersection and in exchange allow them to stay on in violation of the relevant rules.
He said it was the responsibility of traffic police not to let the drivers stop their vehicles at the construction site whereas passengers should also avoid boarding the vehicles from the points elsewhere around the construction site to discourage those causing jams on Shahrah-i-Pakistan and Rashid Minhas Road.
However, a policeman of traffic department accused the city government of being responsible for the chaos, saying that it should have coordinated with the traffic police before starting work on the projects with a view to make arrangements for some alternative routes for traffic.
The authorities concerned had pledged at the time of launching the projects in May 2005 that the work would be completed within two years. However, with no work under way at the sites at the moment, it seems that meeting the deadline would be difficult.
The Sohrab Goth flyover, which would have two four-lane bridges, each having a length of 100 metres, and the 451-metre underpass could take years to complete if construction work in double shifts is not started immediately as in almost one year, only 20-25 per cent work has been carried out.
Besides the flyover, 17,100 square miles of existing roads would also be rehabilitated and 4,082 square miles footpath and a storm water drain are being constructed but the work on none of these projects has been started yet.—PPI
